Don't think Jones would get a single first grade game in the NRL, maybe the occasional bench spot.

I would be disappointed if we have effectively swapped Jones for this bloke. Jones may not get a start in the NRl, although there are an awful lot of puddings who have played a lot of games over there, but he proved himself to be a good player for us, who was still improving. It appears he fell out of favour with KC and I guess we will never really know why, or if we could have matched the wages he is going to be getting, but it seems a big gamble to me. Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jones back in SL before too long.

Jones has suddenly become a bad player because he's leaving it seems. It was only two seasons ago people on here was saying future england player etc.

Jones is a very important member of the squad Imo and we will miss him. He's so young yet and so much growing still to come and much more quality yet to come from him and sadly we will miss it.

The way he can switch from centre to Backrow so easily for a young kid shows how far ahead he is of most lads his age.

I've not seen this Dom play but I'll be very surprised if he's on the same level as jones.

Well I for one is not saying he is a bad player, personally I,ve never really rated Jones highly as others but his game has picked up in the last 4 or 5 games, I,ve watched his game in detail over the past 12 months, he goes OK in the pack but his decision making when he was at centre was pretty poor, shepherding the giants player to allow a score the other week was an example of his common weakness, also his understanding with his winger was not right.
I thought he would have kicked on to another level similar to the way Percival progressed but he hasn't, he's gone outside the 17 and is not going to replace Vea, Greenwood, LMS, Sav, Wilkin in the pack or Turner, Percival in the centres.
Maybe he has realised that being a fringe player is his level and has given him reason to get the cash and try his hand at Exeter.

Maybe he's not had the game time the others have had and always one of the scapegoats for KC when we drop players.

I don't think he's a world beater avd I don't think he will ever make a international squad but he's a top squad player. Teams need this type of player and they become very important during the season.

Saints offerd him decent contract but if you could see what he's got In Union then anybody would jump at it.

Probably the case with the game time, yourself and a few others who are "in the know" with the team can probably see better what Jones has to offer.

I'm just casting opinion on him on match day performance and how he in particular "fits into " to our back line, Swift looks a better player with Turner inside him, Dawson looks a better player with Percival inside him, put Jones into the centres and that particular edge becomes indecisive in both offence and defence.

In the pack he's not exposed as much but he does have a lazy defence at times. With his decision to move on, maybe it will give Knowles and Davies a chance to target 1st team honours and progression.

Another player I,m concerned about is Thompson who I rated highly last year but has seemed to have flat lined a bit this year, injuries, game time stability perhaps.

As for Dominique Peyroux he is an unknown international player, but we should,t "rubbish" him because his name doesn't sound right or he is a british fan non entity.

We've not swapped for Jones though.

If you're happy to pay Jones upwards of £70000 of cap(I think that was the rumoured amount) then we would not need to replace him.

We could not match Union s offer for a utility player.

I like Jones and think he's a great addition to the side but how much do you pay on utility players and how much on starting choices.

Will he play centre above turner or Percival? So they will get more than him.

Will he get in the second row or loose ahead of Lms, vea, savelio, Wilkin, greenwood?

Then he is looking to compete with Richards and Thompson, I'd value him above these for his utility but if you're paying £70k+ to Jones everyone above gets more and they are not even the top earners.

Bar maybe the likes of Wilkins vea and Lms.

Talent wise yes I'd keep Jones every day but to pay that amount would mean shipping out someone above him in the pecking order of being a first choice pick.

You can't pay that much for utility.

Peyroux wouldn't be coming over for less than that though would he?

Never heard of her

Regards

King James

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbQIUxYnvbE Just a little mention and vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbQIUxYnvbE Just a little mention and vid

Completely uninspiring signing. Using a quota spot for a squad player is daft. Could turn out awesome, probably won't be though

I've been wanting to ask this for ages - why is it daft to use a quota spot on a reserve? We're not clamouring to sign superstar Aussies into the starting 17, were not up to the limit this year, and if be very surprised if we were next year so why does it matter? Who can play that utility role currently in SL whose ooc and not demanding more than Peryoux? I have no idea why it matters.

People said Vea was a completely uninspiring signing and after 7 games were now counting the days until he returns. No body had heard of Quinlan and he's going okay - give him a chance.

Squad NRL players are unlikely to be superstars, but if you do your homework there are gems around. For example, I saw Steve Michaels playing Queensland Cup and thought he was bog average in that competition - much too small for an outside back nowadays. I was stunned when Hull signed him. But there are other players in that competition who'd go very well in SL squads.

I think people saying future England player was always excessive. Jones has always been solid, but I see him as a workhorse that helps you win games, rather than someone who is going to win you a match. He'd be in my first choice 17 simply for the fact that he's got a great work rate, he's mobile for a forward and he doesn't really miss many tackles.

However, I think he lacks impact with the ball to be a top quality player - Wilkin has made more metres with the ball despite playing most of the season in the halves, and Vea has only made 70 metres less than him, having played 10 less matches.

I've never seen him play, but in defence of Peyroux, if he can cover wing, centre and second row, he's a pretty handy player to have in your squad. He's mainly a centre - both of NZ Warriors first-choice centres are Tonga's centres. Their main backrowers are Mannering, the NZ national team Captain, Ryan Hoffman, the NSW vice-Captain, and Bodene Thompson who made the NZ Four Nations squad last year. So it's not like he's been stuck in reserve grade behind awful players. You don't get picked for Samoa in two consecutive years if you're a bad player.

I don't really see him in our injury free 1st choice 17:

For curiosity who would you drop out of my choice of 17 and replace with Jonesy.

Lomax
Swift
Turner
Percival
Makinson

Burns
Walsh

Walmsley
Roby
Amor
Greenwood
Wilkin
LMS

Mose
Vea
Richards
Sav

We would have to look at dropping one of these Greenwood, LMS, Vea or Sav in the forwards, Percival or Turner in the backs. For me he is a good squad player when injuries arise.

When you put it like that I'd struggle, not used to seeing our first choice 17

I'd probably drop Richards for him - Sav as our 4th prop, Jones as interchange for second row or loose. I have a lot of time for Jones because he's the sort of player you need in tight games - someone who doesn't miss too many tackles, doesn't make many errors, doesn't give many penalties away.

We could as you say use Sav and also LMS as 4th prop, but for next season I think we need another "all out" prop. Looking again at Peyroux, maybe the coaching staff have seen the utility value, we can cover centre, wing and the back row with one utility player (Peyroux) where at the moment we have got to use 2 players in Jones and Dawson. I think Dawson is contracted on a low salary up to 2016.

Agree about the prop, I notice Kopcaan is ooc this year and there appears to be no talk of him renewing with huddersfield (hardly surprising with their recruits so far) - I think he'd be both a very solid 4th prop and an attainable level for Richards and Haggerty to muscle in front of.

Lomax
Makinson Percival Turner Swift
Burns Walsh
Amor Roby Walmsley
Wilkin Vea
LMS

Savelio Greenwood Tasi Kopczak

SMD Peryoux Dawson Grace
Charnock Thompson Richards Haggerty

More than happy with that as a top 25!

It's worrying that we are actively looking for prop but they keep opting for other teams. I'm in no doubt we need another prop. Not just a back up prop but a prop that's got some quality.

I'm pretty worried by the form of Amor this year. He's getting dominated most weeks now and if you do add Lms to the prop, he's pretty similar getting dominated down the middle. The young 3 are pretty hot and miss as youd expect for Young props.

That leaves us with only Tasi and Walmskey that can make good hard meters when we pinned back in our own half. We are struggling at the moment to get out of our own half but luckily big Mose has really stood up and gives us really go go forward.

So Imo a prop is a must!

That may be because we've marginalised him somewhat of late. There was a point last year when he was playing (well) every week no matter what. I think someone (maybe Brown) said he was the first name on the sheet most weeks (Brown used to say a lot of things, mind).

In 2013, Jones made a whopping 18 clean breaks, only bettered by Johnny Lomax.

Think you're being very harsh on Amor, yes he's not hit the heights of last year, but he's certainly picked up in the last few weeks, and does the hard and rough stuff that gives Walmsley and Masoe a chance to shine. I think his biggest problem is the fact his interchanges this year have been downright bizarre!

I think we've got a prop in the bag (not that I know or anything) the fact that we were chasing quite a few props and then nothing implies it to me - I'm pinning my hopes on Kopczak who as I said looks more than obtainable at this point. As for the props we missed out on, a lot of them chose to stay in aus which there's no shame in, and the only other one is Mullany, who I since discovered lives round the corner from headingly so that's not a real surprise either.

I think Amor has improved through the season, but is still way off last year's form.

On props, how do we think Richards is going?

He's so young for a prop, its hard to be critical, but I do sometimes think he's not kicked on this year as well he might. At the moment I'd say he's looking at maturing into a quite good senior prop, which is not really what a club of Saints stature needs.
I have seen him get a couple of crunching tackles in, which is new.

Would a loan period at a lower club do him any good? Would a couple of months potentially dominating players more often add a couple of inches to his lifting dick and help develop his game?

I'm not bagging Amor at all. I lovd his work ethic and his heart. He's one the if first players on my my team sheet but anyway way you dress it up he's not as dominate as you'd like.

Why is it when someone on here gives a opinion on a player somebody jumps on the high horse and goes so OTT?

Amor is a good prop and I was calling for us to sign him a year before we did so don't get on my back saying im being harsh.